Destination Medical Center selects planning team

The Destination Medical Center Economic Development Agency has selected the architect of Target Field Station as the master planner for the Rochester project, according to a Mayo Clinic news release.

Peter Cavaluzzi, a 1984 graduate of the University of Minnesota’s School of Architecture, is the design principal for New York-based EE&K, a Perkins Eastman company. He most recently received local attention for designing the $85 million Target Field Station project that he envisioned as the “Rockefeller Center Plaza of Minneapolis.”

After being named to the Destination Medical Center team, Cavaluzzi detailed big dreams for the project, which is expected to generate $5.5 billion in economic development over the next two decades.

“Our goal for Destination Medical Center is to create a place of extraordinary quality and value, one that builds upon the DNA of Rochester so that new development is an organic evolution and interpretation of the city’s culture and character,” Cavaluzzi said in the news release.

In addition to naming the master planner, the center’s EDA selected Kimley-Horn & Associates Inc. as the infrastructure planner, San Francisco-based Nelson\Nygaard Consulting Associates as the transportation planner and Los Angeles-based AECOM as the market analysis and economic-fiscal consultant.

The Destination Medical Center EDA short-listed three teams in December for each of the positions announced Monday.

The agency selected the winning firms based on their experience, capabilities of the team members, market knowledge and other criteria. “Consideration was also given to the firm’s experience with, and capacity to coordinate with, the City of Rochester’s current comprehensive plan effort,” according to the release.

Nelson\Nygaard was on the team that put together the Rochester Downtown Master Plan. AECOM and Kimley-Horn both have Minneapolis offices, and Kimley-Horn is in the process of opening an office in downtown Rochester.

The consultant team will be introduced at a public forum at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Mayo Civic Center’s Grand Ballroom.

The firms will work with Destination Medical Center Corp., the city of Rochester, Olmsted County, EDA staff, the EDA’s project manager and other consultants over the next year. A series of public forums will provide updates and gather input.

There will be a 60-day review process for the final plan, which will be approved by the City Council before being adopted by the Destination Medical Center Corp. board.